Hypertension is a dangerous disease with no known
cure.† Despite its complexity and widespread effects, many people believe that
simple, ancient practice if yoga is effective tool in combating this disease.

Hypertension is a medical condition
in which the pressure of the blood pushing against the blood vessel walls
is persistently high.† High blood pressure forces the heart to work harder
to pump blood throughout the body, and when blood pressure is continually
high hardening of the arteries and heart failure can develop.† Normal blood
pressure is less than 120/80, and anything 140 and above/90 and above is
considered hypertension.† Suggested treatment for this disease can involve
drugs and always involves lifestyle changes such as physical activity,
dietary modifications, quitting smoking, and stress reduction (http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/blood-pressure-basics).

.

What
is Hypertension?

,

Why Yoga?

Yoga,
a type of exercise involving postures and breathing practices aimed at unifying
the mind and body (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yoga)
is often
seen as an effective form of stress reduction.† Yoga is advocated for by Dr.
Sujit Chandratreya, a researcher with Yoga Vidya Gurukul which is a yoga
institute that offers yoga education and researched yoga.† He offers biological
explanation for his claims that practicing yoga regularly reduces blood
pressure.† According to Dr. Chandratreya, high blood pressure is a result of continual
activation of the bodyís response to stress.† Stress produces the hormones
adosterone and vasopressin, vasoconstrictors, and adrenaline.† Dr. Chandratreya
claims that yoga turns off the bodyís response to stress, thereby decreasing
adrenaline levels and blood pressure.† He also asserts that yoga may bring down
levels of the stress hormones vasopressin and adosterone.† Dr. Chandratreya
presents this information to explain why yoga decreases blood pressure, but he
does not offer any evidence to support his claims (http://www.yogapoint.com/therapy/hypertension_yoga.htm).

Dr. Rao Nanduri and M. Venkata Reddy, the Director of Vemana Yoga
Research Institute, offer further explanations for the blood pressure benefits
of yoga.† They state that 80 percent of hypertension cases are the result of
stress, and that yoga can treat hypertension by helping patients free
themselves of stress.† They claim that the mind is central to the development
of hypertension and that yoga eliminates the imbalance of the mind that causes
stress, thus lowering blood pressure.† Nanduri and Reddy propose these
explanations to advocates hypertension treatment without medication.† They
claim that these effects are documented in research but they fail to provide
specific information about this research (http://www.personalmd.com/news/yoga_page1_021100.shtml).

Advocates of yoga treatment for hypertension make the claim that
benefits are achieved through the reduction of stress.† A study by Smith,
Hancock, Blake-Mortimer, & Eckert (2007) provides evidence for this claim.†
This study compared yoga and relaxation as methods for reducing stress and
anxiety.† Ten weekly one-hour sessions of either relaxation or yoga were
offered to the experimental groups, and stress and anxiety were measured using
the State Trait Personality Inventory subscale anxiety, which measures the
subjectís anxiety state, and the General Health Questionnaire, which measures
psychological distress.† Smith et al. (2007) found that yoga significantly
improves levels of stress and anxiety but that these improvements were not any
greater those of the relaxation group.†

Is Yoga an Effective Treatment for
Hypertension?

Although the Smith et al. (2007) study found that
yoga reduces stress and anxiety, it did not find any affect on blood pressure
for the yoga group.† This suggests that the regular practice of yoga is not
necessarily sufficient in treating hypertension.† However, several other
studies found contradictory evidence. For instance, a comprehensive review of
the effects of yoga on chronic diseases such as overweight, hypertension, high
glucose level, and high cholesterol found that yoga is effective in lowering
blood pressure.† This review linked body mass index to hypertension and found
that yoga can significantly reduce weight.† It also provided support for blood
pressure benefits in subjects with hypertension in seven studies.† Blood
pressure in these patients improved significantly with yoga practice.† However,
most of these studies identified only the short-term benefits of yoga (Yang,
2007).

A study aimed at assessing the benefits of yoga on
risk factors for coronary artery disease also found that yoga has a significant
effect on lowering blood pressure.† Participants engaged in yoga and meditation
classes for 90 minutes a day three times a week for six weeks.† The mean
baseline measure for blood pressure was 130/79, and at the conclusion of the
study, mean blood pressure for the cohort dropped significantly to 125/74.† All
participants did not have hypertension however, so it is unclear whether the
method used would have specific implications for a hypertensive population
(Sivasankaran et al., 2006).

Furthermore, a study that focused on the effect of
yoga on stress, body mass index, heart rate, and blood pressure among
hypertensive patients found that yoga practices are associated with decreased
blood pressure.† Participants practiced yoga three times per week for eight
weeks.† There was also a control group that received information about
hypertension but no yoga instruction.† Stress was measured with the Stress
Assessment Questionnaire, and blood pressure information was taken from medical
records.† The study found a significant difference between the stress scores of
the experimental and control group at the conclusion of the study even though there
was no baseline difference.† It also found that blood pressure decreased
continually from the second to the eighth week.† Prior to the yoga treatment,
the mean blood pressure was 160.89/98.52, and at the conclusion of the eighth
week it was 136.04/81.01.† This supports the claims that yoga acts as an
effective treatment for hypertension through the reduction of stress
(McCaffrey, Ruknui, Hatthakit, & Kasetsomboon, 2005).

Conclusion

All of the evidence suggests that yoga is an
effective treatment for hypertension.† The studies summarized above support the
claims that hypertension is greatly influenced by stress, and stress reduction
via yoga practices reduces the effects of the disease.† However, it is still
unclear whether it is enough of a treatment for everyone with hypertension.†
Further studies should be done to identify who benefits most from yoga and if
there are certain people who would not benefit from the treatment.